Buss was a pillar of the NBA's success. Possibly the most influential owner of all time.... in any sport. Steinbrenner, Al Davis and others received more attention, but what Buss did with the Lakers elevated the game more than those two owners.

Very sad news, all our thoughts are with his family and how much will his wily control be missed by the Lakers, his son may well be a more reactive owner and no doubt Dr Buss' level of respect and authority will be missed.

It will be interesting to see if things may well start moving quicker at the Lakers now as regards the team's line up as any trades/big moves would have needed to be signed off by Jerry.

He was in many ways the odeal owner, he brought success, spent money but kept in the background and let the people who worked for him get on with running their relevant parts of the franchise successfully.